S1E3: Excursions

The Augustan Institute proudly presents Welcome to Hope Springs, a place of everyday wonders and eternal mysteries. Hi, I'm Maddie Lee. Your trusty tour guide and inside source of information for the beautiful but unusual town of Hope Springs. If you've been paying attention, then you know that smoke bombs were set off in the museum of the Grand Depot. It was easy to think that Zack Sykes had pulled a prank because he does those kinds of things, but it was bigger than just a prank. The smoke bombs were actually a distraction so someone could steal precious historical artifacts related to the town's history. Not only is Detective Hall now investigating the crime, but rival podcasters Rooney Lane and Dakota Thorpe are on the case. You'd think that would be enough drama for one day, but there was more. Jay and his new friend Brace went to the restored telegraph office just like the kind they had in most train stations of the Old West. Suddenly, some strange messages started coming in on the telegraph machine. Not only was it a surprise because the telegraph machine wasn't supposed to be working, but the messages were a call for help to save people trapped in a snowstorm on the mountain. It's fair to ask, how can there be a snowstorm in August? And how are the messages coming from someone who lived over a hundred years ago? Jay, Brace and Andrew want to find out. There's so much going on. I think it's time to sit up straight and check your mirrors as you enter Hope Springs. I appreciate you coming forward, Zach. I didn't come forward, Detective Hall. Your son threatened me. How did he threaten you? He was going to have Brune sit on me. Boom. You mean Billy Decker? That's the only Brune I know. You see him? He's got the strength of a summa wrestler in the brains of a baked potato. Well, I'm glad you came to talk to me anyway. Are you going to fingerprint me? No, this isn't official. I wouldn't do anything without your parents' knowledge. Though I'm curious, your dad is out front. Why don't you want him with you? He bought me the fireworks. What fireworks? The ones I have hidden in the train car are back. Do your fireworks include smoke bombs? No. I never brought the smoke bombs. I had nothing to do with that. Calm down. I know you were unhappy about the depot being restored. But I did it set off the smoke bombs. I was just going to stir things up with some fireworks. But I didn't even get to do that. Did you go into the museum today? Just to see what was there. But I didn't leave any smoke bombs lying around. Have you seen anyone suspicious today? Everyone looks suspicious to me. While you were in the museum. Professor Sheed was in there a lot. He's in charge of it. What about Troy Curtis? You two hang out together. Troy? Nah. He said he didn't want anything to do with the fireworks. But he went into the museum. So did a lot of people. Why? Do you think he did something? I'm just checking all of our leads. I appreciate you coming forward even if you didn't really want to. That's it? I need to talk to your dad. Aw. Do you have to only give you a big lecture about the second amendment and the right to bear fireworks and all that? I'll take my chances. Thank you. Are you sure you don't want to fingerprint me? I'm sure. Yes. Come on, Andrew. Brace, you guys are teasing me. You don't really believe we're getting telegraph messages from 100 years ago. I don't know what's going on, Jay. I'm just checking the possibilities. What I really want to do is follow the telegraph line from here to wherever it goes up the mountain. If it still reaches Treetop Station, then we might find out who's behind this. That'd be a serious hike. Wait. You said we might find out. What we? Do you guys want to go? I do. So do I. Oh, but I can't today. I have to mo Professor D's loan. Professor D? Professor Dribbley. It's spelled like Dribble, but he says it's pronounced Dribbley. I think it's French or something. I call him Professor D to make it easy. I'll tell you what, Jay. If you can't check out the trail now, how about tomorrow after church? I'll ask my parents, but I have to get to Professor D's now. What about you, Brace? What are you going to do? I'll stay here. I'll help Andrew with the telegraph. Oh, okay. See you later. All right. The search for Wendell Burton is on. Professor D is Jay West. I'm here to mow the lawn. Hi, Jay. I thought you had forgotten about me. I'm sorry, I'm late. I was at the Grand Depot. Oh, yeah? How was the opening? Was it fun? It was until the smoke bombs went off. Smoke bombs? Was anyone hurt? No, it just messed things up for a little while. That's too bad. Well, the shed's unlocked and the mower is filled with gas. Thanks. Oh, and if you have some time, I'd like you to pull the weeds in the garden. My wife gets home in a few days and I'd like the flower beds to look nice for her. And just along the edges, don't bother with the section by the back fence. Okay. Get yourself in and shout if you need anything. I'll be in my workshop in the basement. I will. Thank you. Hey, Sam. What do you want, Rooney? I heard a rumor that you were upstairs talking to Detective Hall. How about answering some questions for my podcast, Rooney's Ramblings? You're what? The podcast. What did you talk to Detective Hall about? No comment, Rooney. I'm innocent. They've got nothing on me. So you're a suspect. Don't enter that sack. You want to talk to me. Dakota! Go away. He's talking to me. I'm not talking to anybody. Sure you are. You want to tell your side to someone with the real listening audience. You do not. I was here first. Wait your turn. There are no turns in the aggressive world of podcasts. Oh, look, guys. You can talk to him about what he's wearing. After I get the real scoop, yeah. And I'm sure your three listeners will enjoy hearing it. Maybe you guys should interview each other. All I want to know is what happened with Detective Hall. I want to know how it feels to me falsely accused of grand theft. What? Get your facts right, Dakota. It's not just grand theft. It's arson and grand theft. What? Where are you getting this stuff? Rooney told me about the arson and Dakota told me about the grand theft. You two are each other's sources? Ugh. Just leave me alone. I need to get a lawyer. Wait, Zach, come back. Never mind. He probably didn't do it anyway. Hey, where did you get that cool microphone? Online. It's a shared sound MXP 400. I just plugged it into my smartphone. Right there. It must have been expensive. It wasn't cheap. I bought it with my grandma's birthday money. You stole your grandma's birthday money to buy a microphone? Cool. No! Hey, you! Kill! Hey! Hi. What are you doing? Um, mowing the lawn? At three minutes past six. I guess so. I didn't check the time. I'm Mrs. Connor, the head of compliance for the Home Owner's Association. We do not allow lawn mowing after six o'clock. And it's now four minutes past six. That's four minutes past the lawn mowing curfew. People are trying to eat. The noise ruins their digestion. Seriously? Studies have been done. It's like the role not to swim 20 minutes after you eat. You're saying people will get cramps if I mow the lawn while they eat? It's been known to happen. So stop. Now. But I only have one more strip to finish. Oh, you should have timed your work better. But I didn't know about your rule. Professor dribbly certainly knows. We've told him often enough. But you know how professors are. Really smart? Socially defiant. Now, go home and stop annoying people with your mowing. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Professor? Professor D? Hello? Professor J? Hello? Professor J? Hello? Are you in the basement? Professor J? Whoa! I thought I heard a voice. What are you doing here? I'm sorry. I called out, but you didn't answer. You told me earlier to come in. Oh, that's right. Okay. Stay right there. I'll come up. I was just thinking about what to do. I'm sorry. Oh, that's right. I was just getting a few things down in my workshop. So what do you want? I was mowing the front yard, and Mrs. Connor made me stop. Ah, the homeowner's association's KGB. What was her problem this time? I didn't finish mowing before six. I guess it gives people upset stomachs. I'm sorry. I didn't know. Well, how are you supposed to know a thing like that? She wouldn't even let me do the final row. And I ran out of time to do the weeding. Should I come back tomorrow to finish up? No, you shouldn't be working on a Sunday. Come back early on Monday if you can. I will. Thanks. Uh, what was all that noise in the basement? Noise. Oh, uh, just indulging in a hobby of mine. I'll see you Monday, Jay. Yes, sir. See you then. Hey, Andrew, check this out. It's a photo of Frank Lyons with his donkey. Oh, that was taken near the gazebo at the start of the trail. It says in the picture that his donkey was named Nebulous. Why would he name his donkey Nebulous? No, it's not clear. Well, I'm not finding anything about Wendell in these books. I know the information about station masters is around here somewhere. Oh, I need to go home now. Where and when are we going to meet for our hike tomorrow? The gazebo where Frank Lyons met his tour groups. I'll lock up now. It's been quite a day. Yeah, no kidding. Come on. I'll walk out with you. Trap by blizzard. Stop. No heat. Stop. Turned out. Turned out. Turned out. Turned out. Turned out. Hey, Dante. Hi, Rooney. Have you seen Woodward? He was sitting with his family in mass, but I haven't seen him since. Hey, I was wondering if your mom has found the culprit. Whoever said off the smoke bombs yesterday. Are you recording me? Do you have a mic in somewhere? No. Why do you know something? No. Oh, look. There's Woodward. I gotta go. Any luck, Rooney? Good morning, Dakota. Rooney, look. I was just thinking about it during mass. You and I should work together. That's what you were thinking about during mass. Not the mass. Father Benedict said in his homily about having unity. That's why I thought of it. He was talking about the church. The point is, this whole smoke bomb as the cover to steal the artifacts thing is pretty big. It's so big that I think we'll do better investigating it together. But we argue all the time. That'd be part of the fun. We can argue about all kinds of things in a funny, sick, calming way. We should try it. If it doesn't work, then we'll stop. Well, two is better than one. To quote Father Benedict, he didn't say that. Are you playing hard to get? No. I'm willing to try. Great. I have one condition though. You have to change your wardrobe. You're kidding. For an audio program? That's hot. And I don't even know what to call that skirt. Honestly, Rooney, they had to start putting locks on the thrift store dumpsters. You need to work on your persuasive skills to code up. Hi, Andrew. Hey, Brace. You made it. So this is the place where Frank Lyons met his tour groups? Yep. He'd meet them here and then take them up for a tour of the mountain. It used to be in a big tent. Then somebody put in those picnic tables in the gazebo. Our parks department is supposed to keep it looking nice, but I guess they've been busy with other things. It looks like a hard bump will knock everything down. So, where are we going? I snacked this map from the archives. It's pretty basic, but it should help us follow the telegraph pulls up the trail. You ready? All packed and good to go. Nice backpack. What have we got in there? Some power bars, water, sunscreen, poncho, extra socks. What'd you bring? My dad always says to pack like the zombie apocalypse might hit while we're hiking. So you brought zombie repellent? Close. I have the same as you, plus bug and bear spray, industrial flashlight, toilet paper and travel, lighter and matches, whistle, satellite link. Impressive. Alright, let's go. What about Jay? Isn't he coming? No, he called and said he can't. His family's going to a later mass because of some visiting relatives or something like that. So we can go. Oh, hey. Jay's going to a later mass. How many masses does he have? Well, he goes to St. Francis and they have two on Sunday morning. We have three at St. Clairs. Where do you go to church? Used to go to the gathered hearts group. Is that a church? It sounds like a club. They figured more people would go to church if it wasn't anything like a church. Isn't that like doctors hoping more sick people will come into the hospital if it isn't anything like a hospital? Don't ask me to explain. Why'd you stop going? My parents said the praise team wasn't very good. Praise team? The people who put the music together. You know, so you'll get all emotional and feel like you're close to God. How about feeling close to God because you're at church with him? I wouldn't know what that's like. You can come to church with me sometime. Hmm. Maybe. It's funny. My grandfather used to nag my parents about going to the Catholic church. Where does he go? St. Clairs? St. Francis? St. Cemetery. What? He died. I'm sorry. Not your fault. The old trail starts over there. I hope it gives us some answers to our mystery. Even if it doesn't, a hike is a pretty good way to spend the Sunday. Better than just sitting around and being bored. Yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm bored, Dante. I know what word you've said so a dozen times. Because I'm still bored. And I'm bored hearing you talk about being bored. Wow. That's like a double-layer cake of bored-up. My dad says kids are age should never be bored. My dad says I'm bored because I spend too much time with electronics. He thinks the cure for me is to clean my room. Why do parents think cleaning our rooms is the answer to everything? I don't know. It's the kind of thing they learn at parent's school. Parents don't go to school. It's just something they pick up from each other, through Osmosis. Isn't that a fungus you get between your toes? Osmosis is when you learn things without meaning to. Oh. That happens to me all the time at church. Hey, I know what to do. Let's go hang out in the dining cart the Grand Depot. Grand Depot's closed. It's Sunday. What kind of a business closes on a Sunday? The Catholic kind. We're not supposed to work on Sundays. Why not? Because it's a holy day and we're supposed to dedicate it to God. You know, praying and reading and learning to become saints. I've never seen my parents do that. They work all the time. If we didn't have Sunday masks, they wouldn't know what day it was. The same with my mom. She went into the office today because of that smoke bomb robbery trouble. I have an idea. Let's go to the police station to see what's going on. She'll be working. So? Oh, you're gonna nag me until I agree, aren't you? Oh, yeah. You're my purdatory here on earth. I'm glad to play my part. Brace, where are you? I've been snagged by some branches. Do you need help? I got it. This is really in the middle of nowhere. Are you sure we're still following the old trail? I've been checking the map and following the telegraph poles. I can't believe I've explored these woods my whole life and never noticed them before. So we keep going that way? We can push on, but it's probably better if we go back. You want to give up? I want to be better prepared. This map is too basic. You think you can find a better one? We moved a ton of archival boxes from the Historical Association over to the telegraph office. But I haven't unpacked them yet. There are a lot of maps buried in there. Let's go back and look. Andrew, are you sure these messages from Wendell aren't just a prank? I don't know how anyone could pull off a prank like that. Well, somebody could have hacked in your dad's program. That can't happen. It's a closed computer system hooked up straight to the telegraph line. It's not even set up for the internet. If it's not a prank, then what is it? There's a man claiming to be stuck in a snowstorm in August. What if it's not August for him? What if it really is winter in his time? That's a really weird idea. Yeah, well, I've seen some pretty weird things. You've been listening to Welcome to Hope Springs, a production of the Augustin Institute, made possible through the generosity of friends like you. Find out more about the entire collection of stories and characters in Hope Springs at HopeSprings.org.